SSgt. Andrew Dunn of Air Force Reserve Command’s 514th Air Mobility Wing at JB McGuire, N.J., and A1C Brian Alfano of the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Squadron in Westhampton are the first two reserve component airmen to graduate a new survival, evasion, resistance, and escape course designed to allow Guardsmen and Reservists to become SERE instructors. The course, dubbed S-V95, took place at Fairchild AFB, Wash. It is designed to qualify these airmen on an abbreviated schedule, without serious disruption to their civilian jobs and family life. “We did six field training trips in three months; active duty does them in six months,” said Dunn. Alfano and Dunn will have the opportunity to travel to other installations to teach SERE techniques to fellow airmen. They will eventually be certified to deploy after additional training. (Fairchild report by SrA. Natacha E. Stannard)
The Pentagon plans to use U.S. Air Force C-17s and C-130s to deport 5,400 people currently detained by Customs and Border Protection, officials announced Jan. 22, the first act in President Donald Trump’s sweeping promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants and increase border security.